Rome - A public transport bus accidentally caught fire in
central Rome on Tuesday, causing scenes of panic as people initially
feared a terrorist attack.
The number-63 bus went up in flames in Via del Tritone, just off the
Trevi Fountain, a major tourist hotspot, just before 10.30 am (0830
GMT), the national fire service wrote on Twitter.
The passengers and the driver were evacuated safely but a woman who
was walking near the bus suffered light injuries and was
hospitalized, the ANSA news agency said.
A woman who was near the scene, and who did not want to give her
name, told dpa that she heard a loud explosion and saw a huge cloud
of smoke and people running away, screaming.
ATAC, the local bus company, said the bus was 15 years old and was
"completely destroyed." An internal enquiry will investigate the
causes of the accident, it added.
The fire cast a spotlight on the dire state of public transport in
Rome. ATAC was declared insolvent last year, after making losses of
1.4 billion euros (1.66 billion dollars) from 2009-2016.
ANSA quoted trade unionists as saying that about 30 per cent of
ATAC's 1,900-2,000 buses are not roadworthy, and that the average age
of its fleet is 14 years, against a European standard of 7-8 years.
"It's the umpteenth bus that's gone up in flames in the city. We
estimate that this kind of thing happens once a month," Michele
Frullo of the USB union told ANSA.